Consolidation and smarter use of buildings in Tallahassee is sought.
By Associated Press
Published March 29, 2004
TALLAHASSEE - The state capital's real estate landscape could change dramatically in coming years, as lawmakers consider selling, upgrading and consolidating state offices to save money and put workers in more modern buildings.
The amount of state office space has grown over the last several years, while the number of state workers has fallen by about 6,000. Though many agencies are cramped into small, scattered spaces, others aren't using all the space they have.
Lawmakers are considering bills that promise $30-million in savings and better working conditions for state employees, who have had to suffer problems such as mold along office windows in recent years.
"There's no intention to get massive bulldozers going," said Bill Simon, secretary of the Department of Management Services. "We'll have a strategic plan that we develop with the city and county so they'll be no sudden dumping of 30 buildings."
But the plans could mean significant changes in an area where the state leases or owns acres of office space.
The Broward County service center in Tallahassee has a vacant second floor, for example, while the state rents 30 other small spaces within a 7-mile radius, Simon said.
Agencies are paying different rents within the same buildings. The management department is developing a work space model for employees and has started ranking properties with A through D grades.
Simon said the goal would be to house all workers in A- or B-rated buildings, and to require landlords to upgrade any lower-rated spaces - or lose their tenants.
This week, a Senate committee will consider a bill (SB 2722) that would appoint the Department of Management Services to handle space needs for all state agencies, rather than letting each continue to operate individually. A House committee wrote its own version of that plan last week.
